I'm not gonna lie. I've felt burned out at times over the last few years. Life moves fast when you have kids, especially twins. Add to that the stress and culture shock of new jobs, broken down cars and a billion other things. It's easy to think of life as a treadmill, pushing me forward against my will. I have found the treadmill mindset dangerously influential in my thinking lately. It has clouded my thoughts. It has hidden my free will. It has made me less present with my family. I'm still trying to find my way off the treadmill, but its days are numbered.

This post is my attempt to follow the sage advice of NBA legend, Michael Jordan.

Stop it. Get some help.

I'm inviting you into my struggle. Let's take a look at my life and see if we can learn anything together.

The treadmill

Sometimes I'm not sure what my own opinions are. They're harder for me to articulate because I'm consuming without recording my own personal, original thoughts. Too often I find myself mindlessly scrolling through the Internet. When something triggers an original thought, I'll think about it for a little while. As soon as that trigger flicks off the screen, the thought also vanishes from my mind. I rarely return to that train of thought ever again. Even if I do get it back, I rarely take the time to record it or process it in any meaningful way.

Sometimes I feel like I haven't made a decision in weeks. Obviously, that's not true. I make a thousand choices every day. That scares me. How can I make so many judgment calls without even realizing it? If you have hopes and dreams for your life, autopilot will fail you every time. Even though I know this in my mind, it's so easy to just pretend I don't have a choice.

If you have hopes and dreams for your life, autopilot will fail you every time.

Sometimes my relationships suffer badly. When you're trapped on a treadmill you have no time for others. The treadmill makes me feel desperate, so I lash out at my kids and pass my stress to my wife.

Getting off the treadmill

The treadmill is frustrating. For all the effort you exert no actual movement happens. If you recognize that feeling, you need to first gain some perspective on the situation. Maybe you don't think you're moving because you don't have a point of reference. Move toward something and maintain an honest perspective of how it's going. For myself I'm going to spend time writing and sharing my thoughts on things here. If I try to get out of this, I'm counting on you to keep me on task.

Be the source, not the echo

Scrolling through social media and news headlines invites thousands of other peoples' ideas to enter your mind. These ideas flash across your retinas, travel down the optic nerve, and filter through your mind like rain water. The unchecked tide of thought has to go somewhere. If you don't actively influence it, these foreign thoughts and opinions will settle at random mingling with your authentic beliefs. Worse, on social media we feel compelled to make snap decisions. To share or not to share. Should I like, love, or laugh at this? We react to these headlines without even a glance at the full content we are sharing. It's the echo chamber of empty ideas. I have a simple rule to avoid this. Never react to something unless you've processed the entire message in context. This means you have read the whole article or watched the entire video clip and taken the time to form your own well rounded opinion.

Leverage knowledge

Unleveraged knowledge just sits there taking up cognitive real estate. If you're not engaging with the knowledge coming in, it will go unfiltered. If you're not careful it will take over. A cluttered mind yields a hectic life. So leverage your knowledge! The Internet makes this so easy. Write a small post and share it with someone. You just influenced the world. What if someone disagrees? Maybe you'll learn something you didn't know, and you just got smarter. If you don't use the knowledge you have it's guaranteed to go to waste. Teach, write, record, compose. Let us benefit from the great stuff you have locked away in your brain.

Own your work

Have you ever thought about how much effort you invest in your social media? Did you realize that the platform most likely has complete control of your investment? They can easily delete digital decades from our lives without blinking. I got an early lesson when Facebook deleted my account just because I was homeschooled. They couldn't verify that I was a student. If I had been posting my content on my own website, nobody could have touched it. It would still be mine.

Systematically crush excuses

If you've ever hit the snooze button on your alarm, you know the feeling. Comfy, cozy, and full of self loathing. One snooze leads to another and another. Don't allow excuses a voice. Hate exercising? Prep your workout clothes ahead of time. No excuses. Hate eating healthy? Only buy healthy options. No exceptions. Still have that room full of clutter a year after moving? Make a plan. Declutter a box a day, and eventually you'll work through it all. Nothing too big. Nothing dramatic. Just stick to a simple plan.

Learning to walk

Over the years as a father, uncle, church member, teacher, friend of the family I've had the privilege of watching a lot of kids learn to walk. It's a little cliche, but it's so true. They fall down a lot. In public. Unabashed, they get up and try again. Some take a little longer than others. When they decide to walk, there is no stopping them. If we can learn to harness the determination of a toddler, we will become unstoppable too. In order to get where you want to be in life, you will have to learn. I'm convinced that the best way to learn is in public. You may be ridiculed. Shake it off. It's a growing opportunity. The scoffers only win if you decide to quit.

All done

Time to roll up our sleeves and get to work! If you'd like to chat more about anything here, you can find me on github and twitter as @pingortle. Feel free to DM me or open an issue on a random repository.

Thanks for reading! 🙏

- Kaleb